i've gone through a few lower-tier monosynths looking for one I liked. had a roland sh-3a, yamaha cs-5, and korg ms-10. they all had good qualities, but I ended up getting rid of them. Now I got the axxe, and this one is my favorite. It's got the sound I want, i just love the mellow, dark sound of the arp filter, and love running things through it. I have the later orange and black version, my tech told me this is the more reliable version.

However, one thing that bothers me is that when you hold a low-note (it's low-note priority) and play a note above, you hear the click of the envelope re-triggering, even though it's still playing the same note (never experienced this on any other mono). that's pretty annoying. another thing, mine seems to have problems receiving cv through the input on the back, the scaling isn't right. I've heard of other people having trouble controlling these old arps with cv/gate. wish i could get it to work. but for pure sound I love this thing.

Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Wednesday-Jan-28-2009 at 19:43

blaxas
a hobbyist user
from USA
writes:

I have owned two, The first one was a model I bought cheap. I sold it like an idiot and paid four times the cost i paid for the first one, for the second. But i missed it so much I found it was worth it. first off no old synth is exactly like another, ofen even of the same model. you really have to work with one for some time find the things you like about it. the fact is the interface is awesome you have these sliders and you can mix your cv's. I have powerful bass-like sounds on mine using both waveshapes and the noise. I find that a good bass will make me a little sick when the volume is turned up. I build synthesizers now and still would never sell this one again.

Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Saturday-Nov-03-2007 at 12:44

alhafvar
from rottermdam, nl
writes:

if you can't play this, you missed hancock, stevie or any other simple ass monosynth player .. come on .. no VA can do this ! this hard & wide in the mix ? all you owner/haters sell me yours !

Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Friday-Nov-18-2005 at 23:56

Bryun
a hobbyist user
from USA
writes:

Me and my girlfriend recently picked this beauty up for 275- original version- before they even had PPC which sort of dissapointed me. Both of our first synth. Weird, wacky, thick, powerful, fun! Great for learning on. Basic lay out and not hard to make cool, playable sounds.

Rating: 4 out of 5
posted Thursday-Sep-30-2004 at 18:41

John
a hobbyist user
from CA, USA
writes:

Firslty, this synth IS fat. I don't care what anyone says. I guess the Minimoog is obscenely fat. `Cause the AXXE is heavy enough. I just got done using the MINI patch on the KorgMS 2000BR, and that's supposed to emulate width!! haha I swear, digital can't get it the same. I guess that's really what I like, the fat *width* this synth gives. Its not very harsh (like the mini) but it's very ATARI like. Its a different 70s sound. An almost familiar sound; when I first bought this I thought "why does it seem like I've played this synth, or should have?". Its all so groovy, it really has a hollow dense sound. I got mine for $150, the first version with original PPC. I like it more than the orange one, simply because it has wood on the sides (which I sanded down and finished). This thing is so super nice, but overly hissy. When by-passing all the resistors, this machine gives a clear awesome gut wrentching signal. Once you open up and look about, you'll realise that this machine is SIMPLE. Its lightweight and you can work on it yourself. Sweet machine...